


Like birds in the Skye

by Coal_burningbright



Series: Anywhere under the Skye [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: But like also, Character Study, F/M, Foster Care, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Kid Skye | Daisy Johnson, POV Second Person, POV Skye | Daisy Johnson, She's still a kid even at 19, Skye | Daisy Johnson-centric, Teen Skye |Daisy Johnson, The Rising Tide (Marvel), fanfiction is cheaper than therapy, i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:34:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25196269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coal_burningbright/pseuds/Coal_burningbright
Summary: Yes I'm sticking with the Skye punsSo this is a part two I guess? It's about Skye growing up and what she learned.
Relationships: Miles Lydon & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Skye | Daisy Johnson & Original Character(s)
Series: Anywhere under the Skye [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1825294
Comments: 4
Kudos: 29





	Like birds in the Skye

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this instead of my wips but I love it. It's my bastard chlld that made me cry and kept me up until twelve begging to be written.

Growing up the way you did you learned about many things. 

You learned about food. You learned how you weren’t worth the cost to feed you. You learned that brand-name isn’t for foster kids. You learned how to satch things from plates and cabinets and store shelves. You learned how to ignore your stomach until you could go two days without food and not even feel it rumble. 

You learned how other kids saw food too. You learned how some of them would squirrel food away in pockets and bags and however they could like you. You also say how kids would go without food on purpose. How that boy would starve himself for control. You learned how that girl would starve herself so she would be skinny enough. You see the kids worried over thin arms and showing ribs, and  _ willtheysurvivetheweek _ ? You see how he nuns sigh at the sight of a girl who isn’t skinny as a giraffe. They say she’ll never be adopted or even fostered looking like  _ that _ and you hear her cry at night. Most of the girls in your room cry at night.

You learned how to hide your tears until the right moments. Tears made you weak and a crybaby. Tears were only to be used to tell people you made a mistake and are so sorry and it won’t happen again. You learned how some people wanted to see you cry, to laugh at you or to feel power. You stop crying eventually, even on the worst nights.

You learned that tears get you slapped. You learn not to cry until you’re alone with Adam and you hug and those nights are the best nights of your life. Even after you’ve both snuck back into St. Johns you feel so much better, and safer, and you know you have a friend. You get nineteen nights like that. You get forty-five days in all. 

You learn that friends are a luxury you cannot afford. 

When you listen to the other kids you learn they know the same things. There's a reason they laugh at your tears and it’s not because their hearts have never broken.

You learn to listen. It starts when you are four and a half and that half seemed so important and now it breaks your heart that you would always say  _ and a half _ when they said four because during those next three months you learned what it meant when the floorboards creaked at night. During those next three months you stopped shouting  _ and a half _ and started being good because being good meant it would be over quicker.

You learn to be good.

You learn that nothing comes without strings. You learn that if people are nice they want something. At best it’s like the Stevens' who took you in when you were twelve. They wanted a broken kid to fix up and parade at parties. You put up with their reassurance and parenting books and the fact they gave you back after a month. They told St. Agnes you were difficult and went home with Sarah Andrews who had only lost her parents last year and who hadn’t had enough bad homes to be more guarded than a prison yet. At worst it will be like the Shermans’ or the Doyle's or any home where they act nice and go bad. 

You learn that most of the time it’s better to put up with it then risk a new placement. You learn that some of the time it’s better to run like hell than stay in a place. 

You want to fly free but you seem tethered to the ground.

You learn to hack. You learn from Gabriella until she doesn’t have anything left to teach you. You learn fast because once when she smelled sharp and sweet and like a scent you associate with danger Sister Sue told you a government agent dropped you off and you wonder if you have parents, real ones. You learn fast because you can steal money and book hotel rooms and keep yourself alive. You learn fast because it’s the first thing in a while you have loved and your fingers are flying across the keyboard like birds in the sky. You learn to hack because maybe now you’ll be useful. Be valuable. Be enough. You learn to hack so you will never have to listen to creaking floorboards again. 

You learn to joke and laugh it off. You learn to defuse situations with humor. You learn to joke about trauma until you can  _ almost _ forget it isn't a joke. The almost is important and you already know that. You laugh about that too.

You learn that you are lesser. You learn it in the way generic cereal is for foster kids. You learn it in the way the nuns whisper about you and how no one will keep  _ That One  _ for long. You learn it in the words the other kids throw at you at school because you look different from them You learn it from the way you have never stayed at a place long enough to call it home. You never stay in one place long enough to grow roots that pin you down. 

You learn to run. You learn to run fast and never look back. You learn that slowing down means getting caught and getting caught means pain. You learn that running doesn’t just mean being fast but that it also means being wily and sly and knowing where the best places to hide are. When you run away for good you think it was long overdue. 

The Rising Tide isn’t home. Your van is the closest thing you have to a home but if you needed to you could leave it You’ve learned to not get attached. 

You hack with Miles mainly. You’re both great hackers and eventually you enlist his help in finding your parents. It’s like a game because you’ve stopped letting yourself be disappointed when each agency knows nothing. You find a redacted S.H.I.E.L.D file and that’s it. When the Rising Tide asks you to do a podcast you agree. It’s not like you have anything to lose.

You have a lot to gain though. 

**Author's Note:**

> Please kudos and comment! It makes me want to write a part three where she is on the bus *wink wink nudge nudge*   
> In all seriousness it makes my week


End file.
